Berks Landfill To Close Soon

Future Reopening A Possibility

The Christman landfill in Berks County - a major disposal site for trash from the Lehigh Valley - is scheduled to close at the end of next week.

It has not been decided if the facility will be closed permanently on Jan. 19 or only for a few months.

Carl W. Christman, owner of the landfill, hopes to be able to open a new and much larger section of the landfill in the spring. Officials at the State Department of Environmental Resources say that is possible but note "there is no guarantee."

Yesterday Christman repeatedly claimed he already has a state permit to expand on 34 acres of his Windsor Township property. DER officials say he has applied for the permit but it has not been approved.

It's possible Christman has been taking 20 percent of the trash from Lehigh and Northampton counties since the Novak landfill in Lehigh County was ordered closed by DER last month, according to Allen O'Dell of the bi-county Joint Planning Commission.

"It is the most important landfill around, as far as the independent Lehigh Valley haulers are concerned," said Robert McAuliffe, president of the Lehigh Valley Solid Waste Haulers Association. "We are all taking trash out there."

"Most of my communities are going to be drastically affected by the closing of the landfill," said State Rep. Don Snyder, whose legislative district covers western Lehigh County. "I think the greatest impact is going to be felt by the suburban communities who depend on individual haulers."

Christman is closing his existing 11-acre landfill "voluntarily," but probably will have to pay a civil penalty because he never had an approved state permit for the site, according to DER officials. They could not predict how large the fine might be.

"If he closes down I'll be surprised if he opens again," said McAuliffe. "I've never seen one landfill close down that opened again."

But Christman appears optimistic he will be able to reopen in the spring. "We'll just be out of the garbage business for a while," he said yesterday. "This gives us a vacation until the weather changes. I want to go fishing in Florida for a couple of weeks."

He added: "The biggest problem is the haulers just don't know where to go. There's a lot of stuff coming out here from the Lehigh Valley."

O'Dell estimates the amount of trash going to Christman from the Lehigh Valley may have doubled after the Novak landfill was ordered closed by DER on Dec. 17.

Christman contends he would not be closing this soon if Novak could have remained open. (Novak is appealing the state's action.) "We could have gone till March," he said. "But we got new haulers who had been going to Novak. So we were filling too quickly."

McAuliffe noted that if Christman shuts down, haulers are going to have to travel farther and will have to pass their costs on to customers.

"This is going to mean we will be waiting in a line to get to a landfill,"said McAuliffe. "Most of them probably will head to Berks landfill, which is out by Sinking Spring."

Snyder predicted some local trash haulers eventually may be forced to start dropping customers because there "is no assurance they will have sites to dispose of refuse." The legislator also said haulers may have to start charging more because they will be driving farther and implied some people may have their trash collected less often.

Yesterday Christman said if he does reopen, his rates will increase from $7 a cubic yard to at least $10 a cubic yard.

He said the new landfill area is going to cost him more than $100,000 an acre just to install liners, which are designed to protect groundwater from pollution.

Christman said he owns 600 acres at the site a few miles south of Lenhartsville and Interstate 78.

He contends that eventually his new landfill area can be extended to 75 acres, which he said would be able to accept trash for up to 25 years.

Christman claimed some individuals or companies in the Lehigh Valley are interested in buying his landfill, but he would not elaborate. He indicated that could not be done until all the permits are "in line."

Tomorrow, Christman is to meet with DER officials at their regional office in Norristown to discuss completing closure and the status of his expansion permit.

"He has submitted a closure plan for the existing site, which is generally acceptable at this time," said Bruce Beitler, a solid waste management official for DER. He added DER has approved closing the site at the end of the day on Jan. 19.

"He's closing voluntarily," said Beitler. "That's the same procedure we were attempting at Novak. With this facility we have been able to negotiate an acceptable closure plan."

Beitler said a legal agreement regarding closure of the site still has to be drawn up.

Beitler said there have been no significant environmental problems at the landfill.

But he said there definitely is a possibility Christman will be fined because he operated the site without a DER permit.

Christman said he started the landfill in 1968, years before DER even existed. Beitler said Christman has been applying for the necessary permits since 1971, but never got them.

Beitler said he's been handling the matter since 1982, when DER decided the application "still pending no longer is timely or reflective of existing conditions."

Beitler said closure of the existing site and any DER action on Christman's expansion application are "being handled as two separate matters."

DER officials indicate the way Christman handles closure of the old section will be a bigger factor than possible fines in determining if he gets approval for the new section.

"We can't issue a permit for expansion until a closure agreement is drawn up and signed and we are satisfied that he is implementing closure properly," said Larry Lunsk, another DER solid waste management official.

"It is possible he could have a permit and be in operation by spring," said Lunsk.